Letter to MLA Terry Lake

June 17^th, 2014

Dear Terry Lake,

I hope in some small way this letter is actually read.

My name is Stephan Bloom and I teach in the Kamloops School District (grade 5). I did not vote for you although I would have if you had followed a different political philosophy. I have played soccer against you, I have coached your daughter, I have voted for you for Mayor. My daughter has been friends and team mates with yours. I have a sense of your values and family and they are very admirable. I have liked your passion for everything you have done.

You must be finding the way the provincial Liberals are running the province disheartening. Are you really comfortable with democracy in B.C.?

Unions of workers and their “rights” are painful, as a member, and as an employer (20 staff in my 2 businesses)! But they have moved us out of the time of sweat shops and workers abuse. They have created a middle class rather than working poor and the financially rich. There is still a place for them. The gap between the rich and poor is increasing. Child poverty is an indicator by itself.

I left my businesses for altruistic reasons! I wanted to contribute! My businesses were not contributors. I am proud to be a teacher, to be associated with people that are working for the betterment of others and now fighting for them.

It may be political suicide for you to stand up and say something in caucus but I would expect no less from someone like you.

Stephan Bloom

Amazing Teachers!

Another super day! and humbling!  It was great!  We are continuing with training students in the ways of creating great science experiments through using the SMARTER Science program.  This is all in preparation to sending a student experiment into space on Mission 6 in the fall of 2014.

Today I visited 2 classrooms and saw amazing teachers at work!  I can't believe the talent and caring of the teachers I have worked with in the Kamloops district.  It is humbling for me because I can see the true competence these teachers have and recognize that I could work on a few things!!  And I'm not talking about things as romantic as Inquiry.  I could work harder on things like humour, intensity (less), and yes perhaps even respect.

Thanks and kudos to Rolynda and Grant and Seema.

2014 has it really been a year since my last post!

What a year it has been.  I haven't posted, haven't tweeted but I have been busy developing my Inquiry teaching skills.  My class is completely changed, I can't even imagine going back to textbook and teaching.  I don't even call myself a teacher anymore.  I interchange classroom leader with class/learning facilitator as my new title.  On some assignments - I don't plan it, or the process or the assessment. I just lead the students to do it.  The other day I showed the students the IRP and they planned the unit on Immigration and Public Speaking they even made the Rubric for assessing public speaking.

My challenge is to come to school with my A game - I need to be well rested, well exercised, well meditated and my relationship strong.  If I have my A game I am usually disappointed when Friday or a holiday comes along because I am having so much fun watching the learning take place.

I am not a power person at all (I think) but...  Those who are should look at the power they could have by giving up the control.  Watching enthusiasm, excitement for learning take place and knowing without your guidance that these children would be missing out is POWERFUL.

Life is Good!

The New Year

Welcome to 2013!!  What a great holiday with family!! and friends!  This blog entry was inspired by my daughter who just started her own (Alison super TRAMP). I really like her pictures so will add some of my own. Not too much personal writing since this is a professional blog.  

My class has posted a whole bunch of stuff on our school blog from Christmas concerts to skipping and such.  The students are still wrestling over who will get to do the next one.  I don't even have to ask anymore they just come up and say "can I blog this one".  I usually say "get your ipad and go for it!".
http://bestschool.blogs.sd73.bc.ca/ please have a look at it and comment on a students writing, thanks.

The first week of school was the best of the year.  I really hit them with what I could do for them and their education.  Stuff like fun, creativity, freedom, group work all the great things that indicate the children are taking charge of their learning and having a great time with it.  Alas the honeymoon was short-lived.  This week they have arrived exhausted and self-stimmed themselves to keep from falling asleep.  I must think of something to get those main 8 students engaged in their own learning.  I will keep you posted.

Had the greatest staff meeting of the year and perhaps of the last 6.  The meeting went late because we had a discussion!!  Wow!!  Our discussion was on our failed attempt at implementing a behavior management system.  Wonder of wonders it died a very natural death - loss of interest (aka need)!  The staff, including me, were initially frustrated because of lack of bottom lines in our classroom management.  Two things happened, 1.  A bottom line was found
2.  Creative management strategies and lots of district help

We now are discussing important things like a collective vision of student expectations.  Also a vision for what the school should look like as a "Science and Technology School" (this is my addition and we are at least heading that way).  This is quite fulfilling I have been suggesting it for years!

Another great thing is I have support from my principal in applying for a grant to get our computers upgraded to handle the Quest Atlantis virtual reality 3 D gaming program.  I have used it for several years previously but have been frustrated with our hardware and our internet connection.  The IT department has us clamped down in  the way of bandwidth and upload speeds.  Finally after 3 years I feel enough data has been published to support gaming as a valuable part of education!!  What is really interesting is I am not even a gamer!

Inspiration

The last few weeks I have started thinking about each lesson as a challenge for the students. I pose the question in my mind how canI actively engage the student in this assignment. How can I make this task real, fun and interesting to them. I haven't found the magic question yet I am still dealing with the issues of the gr.5 being very young and having been taught quite differently than I teach. I am blogging now so that means things are moving forward and I am starting to win them over. I have a few students that are starting to drive their education. I have many students 1wanting to blog events on the school student blog site. The writing they are doing is beautiful. I do very little editing. They are taking great pride in doing a good job and I support them with giving them lots of time and trust.

Sir Ken Robinson once again has inspired me with one of his TED talks also one of my co-workers. A new person came on staff and immediately I felt judged negatively by him for what others were saying about me and what he perceived was excellence in teaching. He came to me the other day after sending me the link on the TED talk and made a complimentary statement about now seeing what I was trying to do with the children. He recognized that I was trying to inspire them to be independent learners and to be creative in their representation of their learning. His comments have inspired me further to not give up, it has been a hard fall trying to facilitate the children's learning when they want to be spoon fed.

I don't need a lot of affirmation but some helps!

The Fall was HARD!

Well I am back!  Back to blogging back to tweeting and maybe back to that great inquiry classroom of last June.  I haven't been able to get back into the groove!  Lots of reasons mainly - new class, still young, don't know my ways or my expectations.  I am starting to see the light.  It is Tuesday no parents in  and time to tweet and catch up.

November was a great month!  I did a workshop for the district on Flipping the class.  Ended up with about 15 people and the Superintendent (he stayed for the whole thing) and lots of discussion. I made a video so I kind of flipped the workshop.  The video made the workshop very easy for me because I hardly talked just answered questions. The course was set up on the moodle with lots of links examples and such. http://youtu.be/vvkn9LWWI-k   

The math coordinator came into my class to watch the follow up to a flipped video.  The children were wonderful about 13 of them actually watched the video she it was good for her to see how I handled the situation.  This is exactly what I get too. http://youtu.be/6rCA_LNo0m8

Yesterday I did another workshop on Using the internet for a local school staff.  Went very well with lots of questions and engagement.  It was all set up through a course on the Moodle and organized so the staff can access it as a resource.  http://www.mindmeister.com/91990859/the-day

August 22nd Thinking about the new school year!

Here I sit, the class is ready, the computers and ipads are all charged and ready to go.  Now the hard part starts-how do I get that feeling of inquiry teaching back.  Last May and June were fantastic.  The children were engaged and having fun and so was I.  They were in charge of their education and learning efficiently.  I do remember how important using this blog was it kept my mind on what I was doing and made me think about each day and the great things that were happening.  I also remember how important staying in touch with my social media friends were.  They had great articles and wonderful suggestions and encouragement.

My mind is a whirl about the start up and the new students!

I do remember that last year and all summer I have thought about being more kind!  To do this I must take care of myself - sleep is the most important!  I get lots of exercise, good food and lots of love so to focus on the one thing shouldn't be hard!